


nevermore.

by mudkiip



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: F/M, THIS IS SO FLUFFY IT HURTS TO WRITE, This was written at 4am, but i tried my hardest, please excuse any errors i didn't catch on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:27:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22645633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mudkiip/pseuds/mudkiip
Summary: “..so that’s why I came here, to see you. I’ve missed you, Hop. A lot.”(for Postwickshippingweek night 1)
Relationships: Hop/Yuuri | Gloria
Comments: 3
Kudos: 74





	nevermore.

2:04am ━ Tuesday, August 11th ━ Postwick, Galar.

“Come on, come on, come on…” Hop attentively leaned forward towards the telly, his golden eyes locked in on the screen. It’s almost as if he didn’t hear the loud cracks of thunder that boomed outside his house while he mashed ‘side b’ on his joy-con. “Come on, co- Damn it!”. The purple haired boy slowly leaned back, the red joy-con sliding out of his hand. _I guess spamming pk-fire doesn’t work everytime, huh?_ he thought to himself. After exiting the loss screen, he prepared to join another round of Smash when a loud ‘ _BANG!_ ’ erupted from downstairs. 

Hop flinched as his eyes flew over to the door. _Could Leon be home?_ He pondered for a split second, then shook his head _No, that’s impossible! He was just at Sonia & his apartment in Wyndon earlier today, and there’s no way that the Flying Taxis are open in this weather! And Ma took Grammy and Gramps to Unova.. _ He shifted uncomfortably in his spot on the carpet. Shrugging it off as a tree falling (from the storm winds), he continued onto the game menu.

That was until he heard footsteps.

The young lab assistant quickly turned off his switch and stood up off the floor. _Who the HELL would be in my house at-_ He paused, and quickly glanced at the clock. _-2am?!? Jeez, playing video games makes you lose track of time. I swear to Arceus if it’s Raihan looking for a battle in the storm..._ He took a step closer to the door, hearing the footsteps get farther up the stairs. They weren’t heavy, but the boy could tell whoever it was had to have been quite fervent.

He felt his stomach churn a bit as the ominous footsteps reached the top of the steps, and started toward (what seemed to be) his room. _Bloody hell, the ONE time I have the house to myself for a few nights, we get an angry intruder. Great. Juuuust great! If Leon was here, this probably would have been taken care of by now.._ Hop thought glumly. Realizing the situation, he frantically shook his head. _Hey! This is no time to be comparing yourself to him! We could be getting robbed right now!_ And as if on cue, the footsteps stopped.

...Right at Hop’s door.

The golden eyed boy prepared to reach for the closest thing to him (to potentially fight back this mysterious trespasser) when he heard a _very_ familiar sound.

The short, distraught breaths of a girl. A girl he knew too well. “Wait..” he mumbled, quiet enough so only he could hear it. The door handle was grasped from the outside, and then gently turnt to a downwards angle. “T-there’s no way it’s-”

The door opened with a slight _click_ , and there she was. 

Gloria, the champion of the Galar region, and Hop’s best friend since childhood, at her lowest. The girl’s silky brown hair was now a wet, tousled mess, and her fandango pink dress was soaked from all the rain. With a trembling fist, she clutched her green hat in her left hand, water still dripping off it. And to make everything ten times worse, the usual effervescent look in her big brown eyes was replaced by a dazed and scared one. _Hold on, does that mean she ran here?! At 2am, during a thunderstorm?!_

Hop stared blankly at her, a million emotions going through him all at once. And for about 10 seconds, neither of them said anything. Finally, he mustered the power to say one word:

“Gloria?” 

And it was when he heard her sniffle he knew everything he needed to know.

“Gloria..” he asked again, this time with a softer voice. She looked up at him, her eyes welling up with tears, and her cheeks dusted pink. Hop found it funny that even while looking like _this_ , she still was adorable. _Wait, adorable? God damn it Hop, this is absolutely NOT the time to be thinking about how freakin’ adorable Gloria is- Shit!_ Hop gulped. _To hell with being a teenage boy.._

With her tears becoming more and more prevalent, the young champion squeezed her eyes shut and looked back down at the ground. She shuffled her brown boots together (which she at least had the manners to wipe before stomping inside), not knowing what words to say. “What’s the matter, Glor..” Hop said, trying to let out a small smile.

And instead of giving him a worded answer, she did the second best thing that came to mind: She ran full speed into him and hugged him.

Hop’s eyes widened as a felt heat creep up his neck. Sure, she’d hugged him many times before, but this was... different. To see Gloria, the most confident and lively girl he knew, in such a vulnerable state was rare. _Very_ rare. He gently wrapped his hands around her, as he listened to her cry into his t-shirt. He wasn’t the best at advice, considering the fact that he’s normally on the receiving end of it, but the Postwick boy just felt everything came naturally to him this time.

“It’s okay.. It’s okay..” he whispered, as Gloria gripped tighter onto the back of his shirt. 

“I’m sorry you have to see me like this.” She mumbled

“Sorry? Er.. Wait, I mean don’t be sorry!” Hop said, his voice spiking. The brunette let out a soft chuckle in between sobs. _To think she still can laugh, even while crying.._

He was going to make sure he never has to see her like this again. No, make sure she never has to be like this again.

Five or so minutes later, Gloria had finally managed to collect her tears, and let go of the purple haired boy. “So, are you ready to tell me what’s wrong now?” Hop prodded. She looked up at him with glossy eyes, and let out a small nod.

Hop bit his lip. _What is it’s something I don’t know how to deal with? Maybe someone beat her as champion? Did someone say something to her? Wait- could it have been that bastard, Bede? Man, do I hate that guy’s arse. Maybe one of her Pokemon went missing, or even worse.._

“I-it’s..” Gloria started, and let out a sigh. “It’s that.” she said, gesturing toward the window.

Hop blinked. “It’s the window?”

“No. The storm.” she replied.

He stared blankly at her for a few seconds, and then glanced over at the storm rampaging out the window. _I mean, it is pretty bad out there, but.. It's a thunderstorm! The all-powerful champion is afraid of a thunderstorm!_ The purple haired trainer found himself going from being completely dumbfounded to trying his hardest to stifle a giggle. _Don’t laugh, don’t laugh, don’t lau-_ Eventually it was too much for the boy to handle, and he ended up bursting out in laughter.

The petite girl scrunched her eyebrows and crossed her arms. “What’s so funny!? I didn’t run here at 2 in the morning during a fuckin’ storm just for you to laugh at me!”

 _And her inner Galarian shows.._ Hop put his hands up defensively, and shot her a soft smile. “Okay, okay, you win. But seriously, why were you scared of a thunderstorm? We’ve always had them here in Postwick and you’ve never said anything about being scared of them.”

Immediately, Gloria’s face tinged pink, and she tried to look anywhere but him. “Well, uh, that’s because I never was.”

The lab assistant cocked his head. “Huh?”

“I mean, I- I was today!” She added urgently, returning eye contact for a brief second before looking away again, her face now red. “I’d just never really been alone during a storm before. There’d always been someone home with me in the past, so I never felt the need to come here. I’m already alone enough as of the past year, either having to stay in Wyndon or camp out in the wild area. ” A sad smile appeared on her face. “..and if i’m going to be completely honest with you, I don’t even think it was the storm I was really scared of.”

Hop was silent, still trying to figure out what she was trying to say. 

“..I just think I was scared of being alone with my thoughts. I mean, I have this stressful job of being champion, that requires me to always be at my peak performance, and have everything I do be in the public eye, and I’m only fifteen years old! Everyone just expects so much of me.. but you?” The brunette finally met eyes with Hop. “..You don’t just see me as ‘Champion Gloria’, you see me as me. The mischievous, grubby girl from Postwick. Just like you always have. You’re my only rock in a world full of constant change..” Gloria smiled, her cheeks the shade of an Applin, and grabbed one of his dangling hands. “..so that’s why I came here, to see you. I’ve missed you, Hop. A lot.”

And for the first time in his life, Hop was speechless.

..And maybe it was then he realized he saw Gloria as more than just a childhood friend.

_Say something, you arsehat! She just told you all of that and you're just standing there like an idiot! Most of the time you can’t STOP talking but now you can’t even say a damn thing! I swear to fu-_

“Hop?”

“Uh, Y-Yeah?” 

“I think it’s getting a bit late.” The young champion said, while nodding toward the clock. Around twenty or so minutes had passed since Gloria initially stomped into his room.

“Oh, with all that’s happened I kind of forgot it was the middle of the night..” Hop chuckled, then let out a big yawn. _So wait.. Where is she gonna sleep? It’d be creepy for her to sleep in Ma’s room, and I’m not sure I want her to risk finding whatever shit Leon keeps in his. And there’s no way were both sleeping in my bed. That’d be weird, and uncomfortable (since it’s only a twin n’ all). Maybe I could just sleep on the floor next to the bed? Or maybe-_

“I could sleep on the couch, if you want.”

Hop snapped out of his thoughts and looked back at the girl in front of him. _Stupid, why didn’t I think of that!_

The golden eyed boy opened his mouth to start talking, then paused again. _Wait wait wait. This is my chance to finally follow Leon’s advice on being a ‘gentleman’!_ “Nah, I’ll take the couch, you can stay up here. Ma would kill me if I made you take it! Oh, and..” Hop glanced down at her outfit, still relatively wet from the rain, and then averted his eyes toward the ceiling. “..change out of those wet clothes, too. Just wear a t-shirt from my closet or something.” Gloria gave him a reassuring nod, and the purple haired boy made his way downstairs.

Around five minutes later, Hop heard footsteps coming back down the stairs. _Huh, it’s strange how much less noise she makes when she’s not super emotional._ The Postwick boy looked over to see his best friend standing with her arms crossed at the bottom of the steps, wearing his ‘Pikachu Payback’ shirt (that was obviously a few sizes too big for her), and shorts he could only assume she was wearing under her usual outfit. _Either I'm tall, or she’s just really short. My shirt fits her like a dress!_ Once he’d noticed her presence, she walked over and started to forcefully push him off the couch. "G-glor? What are you doing? I’m comfy as hell and there’s no way I'm scootching over.”

“Get up.”

“Huh?”

“Oh come on, Hop!” The short haired trainer pouted. “There’s zero chance that i’m sleeping in your bed, at YOUR house, while you sleep on the couch.”

“Glor, it’s really not that big of a deal-”

“I WILL throw this remote at you.”

Hop immediately sprung up from his position on the couch, and shot his hands behind his head. _Gloria’s already scary enough without anything in her hands.. Wait, where in Arceus’ name did she even get that remote?! She was talking to me the whole time!_

As the boy made his way back over to the stairs, he heard the brunette say one last thing: “Goodnight, Hop.”

He let out a small, but warm smile that only he could see. “Goodnight, Gloria.”

3:59am ━ Tuesday, August 11th ━ Postwick, Galar.

“Damn it.” Hop knew he should be sleeping. Gloria must have been fast asleep well over an hour ago at this point, but the golden eyed boy just couldn’t seem to put his eyes to rest. _She should be fine down there, right? I mean, the couch is comfortable.. Isn’t it? Gah, I don’t remember! I need to sit in the living room more often. If she WAS uncomfortable, she probably would have woken up and told me by now, anyway. Gloria’s always been confident like that._ The lab assistant threw his Wooloo hacky sack up and down, throwing it just high enough that it barely grazed the ceiling, catching it, and then repeating the same sequence over and over again. _But, you’re never TOO sure.. What if she was too embarrassed to come up? Too tired? Too- Hell, what am I saying?! You’re 100% overthinking this, brain. Everything is perfectly fine. Go to sleep._

Hop let the Wooloo toy come flying back down, but this time he didn’t attempt to catch it. It hit him smack in the face. _I should go check on her._

He carefully got out of his bed, and gingerly opened the door. The purple haired trainer slowly crept down the hallways, and made sure he was extremely cautious not to step on any of the old, creaky stairs. Why was he doing this, exactly? The boy really couldn’t think of an answer. Eventually, he made it back downstairs, and sat down right next to the sleeping girl. She was loosely curled up on the top cushions of the couch, her right leg about to fall out of her arms loop. Her chocolate bangs, now dry, effortlessly fell over her forehead and grazed the top of her lashes. _You know, I never noticed it before, but her hair has definitely grown longer since we first left on our journeys._ The olive skinned teen gazed longingly at her, deep in a peaceful slumber. _Her hair isn’t the only thing that’s changed about her since we left two years ago, though. I take back what I said earlier about her being adorable, because she really isn’t ‘adorable’. Adorable is how you describe a fairy-type Pokemon, or a newborn baby. Adorable is also how you’d describe a childhood crush._ He gently grabbed her left hand (that had just fallen limp), and let out a quiet, albeit content sigh. _But I'm not really much of a child anymore, am I? Actually- neither of us are. We’re both fifteen now, so I guess I’m just bullshitting myself by calling it a silly childhood crush._

Hop had never been the best when it came to registering and dealing with his emotions, so he wasn’t sure how to react when it dawned on him earlier that night that he, in fact, DID have romantic feelings towards Gloria. The first thing he felt was stupidity for not realizing it all these years. But now, all he wanted to do was let her know. _You’re not adorable, Gloria, you’re gorgeous. And I really, really like you._

He chuckled lightly. “..and I wish I could tell you all that in person.”

… _This is creepy, isn’t it? I need to get back to bed anyway.._

As Hop prepared to stand up, he felt the fingers grasping his hand tightening. The golden eyed boy felt all the blood drain from his face. _Oh no, oh no-no-no, if she was awake-_ “Hop..” Gloria mumbled, almost incoherently. Hop let out a sharp breath he didn’t realize he was holding. _Oh thank Arceus she was sleep talking.._

She shifted slightly, and then lightly tugged on his hand. “Hey, uh..” the Postwick teen murmured, his face heating up. He shot a few quick glances between the staircase and the sleeping girl, and then let out a tranquil sigh and squeezed his body into the remaining space on the couch.

_Maybe if I… just fall asleep… right here… she’ll… she’ll… zzz_

11:24am ━ Wednesday, August 12th ━ Postwick, Galar.

“I’m going to kill that boy!”

With her fists clenched, an irritated Sonia marched past the drystane fence and turned the corner to Hop’s house, her Yamper following close behind. “Why are teenagers so irresponsible! So much for being at the lab at 9am sharp! I’m so- Wait, am I that old that I hate teenagers now? Is that, like, a side effect of being 23?” Sonia slowed her pace, but then went on to speed up even more. “What am I saying? I’m not even old! Ugh, get it together Sonia! Waking up at 6am and taking a flying taxi home from Wyndon does NOT put you in a good mood..”

She finally halted at the door and landed a few impatient knocks. “I bet he stayed up too late playing video games and isn’t even out of bed yet..” the young professor grumbled as she swung open the door. She prepared to scream Hop’s name (angrily), until she looked to her right.

“Oh. My. God.”

Sonia quietly crept over to the couch, where she saw her assistant and the current champion sleeping peacefully. Hop had his right arm draped over Gloria, and the latter was contently curled up, holding his hand. The peach haired professor signaled her Rotom phone to come out of her pocket and load up the camera app. “Now if I can just get a picture for Leon..”

And then Yamper proceeded to start barking.

“Mom, I-I’m up!” Hop shot up from his position, his purple hair a mess. He frantically scanned the room, until he met Sonia’s eyes. “..Sonia? Wait, what’s going on here? Weren’t you just in Wyndon with my brother?” 

“I should be asking you the same thing.” the blue eyed professor replied back, waving a turquoise painted nail at him and his ‘friend’. Hop’s eyes grew wide and his face flushed.

“Wait- ah- no! It’s not that! I just fell asleep next-” The golden eyed boys frantic explanation was interrupted by Sonia laughing.

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t thinking that.” She slowly walked over to him, and let out a small, but proud smile. “You must really like her, huh.”

Hop paused for a second and looked down at the girl laying calmly next to him. He brushed her dark brown bangs out of her eyes with his index finger, and then looked up at Sonia with a grin.

“Yeah. I really do.”

The 23 year old put her hands on her cheeks. “Aww.. Young love! You two are so young and cute!” She stood up, and nodded her head at the front door. “But falling asleep next to your crush still doesn’t count as a valid excuse to be late for work. Chop chop, now!”

“Hey, hold up mate!” Hop called as he ran out the door, still dressed in his pj’s. And as soon as she heard the door shut, Gloria peeked open her eyes and smiled.

_Knew it._

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY POSTWICKSHIPPING WEEK!! its 12:07am and i wanted to get this shitty excuse of a story in for day 1 so.. pretend its still the 9th. There's so many notes i wanted to make buuut i dont feel like writing them lmao. Just like,, I altered Hop's house a bit (ie: I made him have doors?? because he doesn't have them?? dear nintendo let him have doors!!). Also incase you didn't catch on this takes place 2 years after Gloria becomes champion (and leon/sonia are dating in this too but thats not really important)


End file.
